State of the Union 2011: Obama calls for innovation, unity

Chris Burrell

Wednesday

Jan 26, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 26, 2011 at 4:41 AM

In his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Congress, and all citizens, to embrace the nation’s heritage of innovation, to invest in education and to set aside the divisiveness of partisan politics as the path toward economic recovery.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Congress, and all citizens, to embrace the nation’s heritage of innovation, to invest in education and to set aside the divisiveness of partisan politics as the path toward economic recovery.

Much of Tuesday night’s speech focused on the economy, but Obama did not offer specific steps toward reversing a stubborn national unemployment rate, currently at 9.6 percent.

Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, said Obama’s speech was short on specifics but long on conciliation toward Republicans, who took control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm election.

“I think it represented –– in one of the most contentious political environments we’ve had in recent memory –– at least a moment of bipartisanship, of reaching out and of an attempt to find a common ground,” said Watanabe.

Many of Obama’s goals were dressed up with a carrot and a stick for lawmakers. A vow to take on the thorny issue of illegal immigration came with a call to allow foreigners and the children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. after they have earned college degrees.

Obama paired his promise to lower the corporate tax rate with a goal of closing the loopholes that lobbyists have created for certain industries to sidestep taxes.

Such an approach, said Watanabe, signals that the Obama of the second half of his term is pretty much the Obama seen in the first half.

“For those people who were expecting a combative president who was going to take on the newly invigorated opposition and pursue an aggressive liberal agenda, they did not get that tonight,” said Watanabe.

Obama acknowledged the divisions laid bare in November’s bitter election, but he tried to foster a spirit of common ground between parties, especially in the aftermath of the Tucson shooting rampage that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded.

“What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow,” Obama said to the legislators, who sat together for the address, ignoring party lines.

Watanabe said he doubts the air of conciliation will last long, but he said Obama’s address revealed his midterm tactic: more pragmatism.

“Both in terms of governing and in terms of political calculation, he clearly thinks the proper way is to appeal to the middle. And that frustrates some people, particularly within his own party. But I think he believes that is the most effective way to respond and to neutralize people on the far right that perceive him as occupying everything but the middle,” said Watanabe.

Obama praised the surge in the stock market and the growth in corporate profits and then said it’s time to rein in spending.

“Now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable,” he said.

Obama wants to freeze non-defense spending for the next five years, veto any bill with earmarks, simplify the tax code and eliminate the billions in subsidies to oil companies and tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.

The executive director of the state’s Republican Party was unimpressed.

“He struck the right tone, but he had to. He got his clock cleaned (in November),” said Nathan Little, who directs the GOP in Massachusetts.

Little was equally skeptical that good feelings Obama tried to foster between the parties would last.

“I’m glad tonight there was a tone of civility,” said Little. “But I don’t see why it would last past tonight.”

Little said the debate over repealing the health care bill had already turned ugly.

Obama offered Republicans only a small concession on that score, saying that he would eliminate an onerous bookkeeping requirement for small business owners and push for the GOP’s desire to reform medical malpractice laws.

“So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward,” Obama said.

John Walsh, chairman of the state Democratic Party in Massachusetts, said Obama staked out the areas he would defend, such as health care. Walsh said the president also charted a course for economic recovery.

Obama pointed to America’s achievements and argued for more investment in education.

“We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices, the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers, of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives; it’s how we make a living,” Obama said. “We need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.”

Republicans think cost-cutting is the way to prosperity, Walsh said.

“But if our infrastructure is rated D and our education system is falling behind our competitors, then we’re undercutting our future,” he said.

Reach Christopher Burrell at cburrell@ledger.com.

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